Prepared to Die
by YouWishYouHadMyHungerGames
Summary: Glimmer and Marvel. Cato and Clove. The ruthless tributes from One and Two that make up the greater part of the Career Pack in the 74th Hunger Games. They're only games; why are these so called killing machines finding it so difficult to play? (If you want more about the Careers, this is your story! Glato romance, Clato, Clarvel and Glarvel friendship.)
1. I'm gonna do it Glim

**Prepared to Die.**

**_Aloha my readers! I'm just going to point out, this will be a Glato fanfic. No likey, no ready, but please don't leave hate reviews. I have read the books, I still ship them and I have nothing against Clato shippers, in fact I love them. Ship on! If you hate this pairing so much, imagine that Clove and Glimmer had swapped places, or just simply don't read the fanfic. You have been warned. Now, onto the story. The first chapter (or maybe first few chapters) will pretty much be a prologue, but after that there will be a time jump to the reapings. Hope you enjoy!_**

**Disclaimer: I do not own The Hunger Games or any of the characters, settings or other objects mentioned, apart from those that were born from my own imagination. **

* * *

Two children, an eight year old boy and a seven year old girl, tore through the bustling streets of District One. They narrowly avoided many adults who looked down at them with disdain as they ran riot in the city. But they didn't care. They were having the time of their lives, they were free and that's all that mattered to them at that point. The knowledge that they would only be free for a few short weeks rested heavily on their young shoulders, because as of the day after the Hunger Games was over, both Glimmer and Marvel would be enrolled into the Training Academy- or simply The Academy.

District One was the most prestigious district by far; their luxury creations of precious gems and fabulous styles enticed both citizens of the Capitol and the other districts alike, which meant there was only one lifestyle in District One. You turn eight, you enrol at the Academy, you volunteer for the Games when you're ready and you compete. You die in the arena? No-one will care, there's always next year. If you don't compete in the Games, you work. If Marvel didn't compete, he would join his father, Velvet's, goldsmithing business with his elder sister as would his 2 younger sisters after him. As for Glimmer, she would become a hair stylist alongside her two older brothers Jasper and Gleam, her sister Gauze, and her parents Quartz and Amber. No choice. So, as often as they could, Glimmer and Marvel would escape the turmoil and pressure of their families to visit the quieter, calmer side of their District.

As the evening stars continued to twinkle brightly in the black sky above them, the two children raced up the hill that marked the edge of their district, and where you could see all across One. Marvel reached the top first, he sat down and raised his eyes up to the sky as Glimmer came panting over the crest of the grassy slope, careful to avoid the fence that he knew was electrocuted behind him. A scar on his upper shoulder proved that it was. His friend plopped down next to him, laying on her back and allowing her long blonde mane that was hanging loosely by her shoulders to spread in a fan shape behind her. Marvel looked down at her, grinning.

"I'm gonna do it one day Glim. I'm gonna compete in the Games. And I'm gonna win. Then I won't have to work with dad, and neither will Linen. Or Glitz. Or Glow. No-one will have to work in my family again." His blue eyes were full of determination, almost as if it were the day of his reaping. Glimmer smiled half heartedly and sat up, dragging her eyes away from the shining stars above them.

"I'm going to live too, whether I compete or not. I'm going to get married and have children." She stated dreamily, gazing out upon all of her district with her emerald orbs. Marvel laughed and mirrored her actions.

"Well tomorrow is the reaping. That means it's only ten years until ours." He gestured as though he was holding a glass, just like he'd seen his parents do on every reaping morning. "AND MAY THE ODDS BE EVER IN OUR FAVOUR!" Both the kids were in peals of laughter after Marvel's outburst, ready for what this years reaping would bring and ready for their journey through the Academy.

* * *

A single, sharp tap on Glimmer's bedroom door arose her from her sleep. As she blinked to remove the sleep from her eyes, her mother's musical voice drifted in from the hallway.

"Come on now Glimmer, it's 6am, we're behind schedule! It's Jasper's reaping!" The joy in Amber's voice was undeniable; her second eldest child was going in for the reaping so everything had to be perfect, seeing as Gauze just missed out on her place in the games. "Four hours to get ready, so little time. Up for breakfast and then Gauze will get you ready. Oh and happy birthday dear!" The sound of heels clicking on polished wood told Glimmer that her mother was dressed and retreating to the dining room. With her brain still fuzzy from sleep, she swung her small legs out of bed and onto the plush cream rug that was waiting at her feet. She slid her slippers on and took a second to compose herself before venturing out into the hall.

By the time Glimmer had reached the dining room and taken her place at the large beech wood table, it was piled high with fresh berries, tureens of steaming hot cinnamon rolls and two large crystal jugs, one full of cranberry juice and the other of coffee. As she helped herself to 3 cinnamon rolls with a bowl of mixed strawberries, blueberries and blackberries before pouring herself a large glass of cranberry juice, her mother swept into the room.

Amber was wearing one of her many extravagant reaping outfits. This years ensemble was a plum coloured dress that clung to her every curve and reached her knees, complete with 5 inch gold heels that shimmered with glitter. A matching belt was pulled around her waist and the edges of the long sleeves were cuffed with gold bracelets that Glimmer recognised from the window display at Velvet's store. The edges of her mothers golden, now literally shimmering with golden glitter so it seemed, curls swung past Jasper's cheek as Amber fussed around him, ensuring he was eating well and that he looked presentable. Glimmer noticed that she and her 11 year old brother Gleam were the only ones not yet dressed. Her father was wearing a sharp lilac suit with a glittering gold tie and cuff-links, his sandy blonde hair swept up into a quiff that seemed bulletproof. Jasper was wearing a plum suit that matched his mother's outfit, instead with a sliver tie and cufflinks. No doubt Gleam would be forced into a suit with bronze accessories. She would too probably, as she was the youngest. As she got older, she would gain sliver accessories, then maybe even gold if she won the Games.

Gauze floated in just as Glimmer had finished her breakfast. She was wearing a full length lilac dress that was tight until her waist, then fell to the floor in several layers of netting that was accompanied with a silver belt, shoes and jewellery and a silver hairband that pulled her blonde locks away from her face, allowing them to fall down her back elegantly. There was always a colour scheme when it came to reapings. Glimmer pushed herself away from the table and allowed Gauze to lead her into the dressing room. A freshly pressed lilac dress was hung on the wardrobe door, with its matching bronze attachments. She sighed lightly and prepared herself for the Reaping readying.

After half an hour, Glimmer's hair was braided along her forehead and pulled into a curly ponytail that fell across her shoulder. Her dress reached her knees and puffed out to the sides, making her look slightly like the ballerina's she remembered learning about in Culture Studies at school. Apparently, they were dancers who wore skirts called tutu's and performed shows. They had names like the Nutcracker, or Viva La Diva, or Glimmer's personal favourite, Swan Lake. There were even videos they were allowed to watch, and she knew them off by heart. She'd even gone as far as learning some of the dances and practising them in her room at night, not that she would ever tell her mother that. Or anyone really, not even Marvel. It was like her little secret, and she loved it.

* * *

After another half an hour of her mother worrying and her father trying not to be in the way, Glimmer found herself clinging onto her fathers arm as she stood amongst the crowd that were waiting for their Capitol Representative, Maishelle Jankle, to arrive and announce the tributes. Marvel, who had been forced to wear a powder blue suit that was adorned with the seal of his father's business, was stood next to her with his father and three younger siblings. Since all that was happening at that point was the possible tributes filing into the square, Marvel and Glimmer had a good chance to look around. The square; a pristine area that was reserved for social gatherings and the occasional gem trading market, was now adorned with what seemed like hundreds of silk flags that fluttered gently in the breeze. They were all in jewel colours. Then, as your eyes reached the stage, the Capitol seal was emblazoned on pale blue banners that were hung on either side of where Maishelle would soon stand. Two crystal bowls, a glittering gold one for the boys and a shining pink for the girls, sat adjacent to these banners, so no matter where you stood, they could be seen. Marvel nudged Glimmer as she was distracted by one of the flags that had inexplicably come loose above her head, as Maishelle ascended the stage regally.

"Welcome, all the people of District One, to the 64th annual Hunger Games!" Maishelle's distinguished Capitol accent rang out across the now silent square, as loud as her bright blue wig that clashed with her deep red suit. "As always...ladies first!" There was a round of applause as Maishelle danced towards the gleaming pink bowl and picked out a strip of paper elegantly. She tottered back to the microphone and cleared her throat.

"Turquoise Leighton!"

"I VOLUNTEER!" The words were barely out of Maishelle's mouth before a voice had sounded from the crowd. Glimmer watched interestedly as a girl who had blonde hair just like hers and blue eyes just like Marvel's, stepped smoothly out of the line and practically glided smugly towards the stage. When asked for her name, she replied swiftly.

"Cashmere Johnson."

After the initial hubbub had died down, Maishelle selected a boy's name and stated it to the anticipating audience.

"Graphite James!"

"I volunteer as tribute!" Glimmer knew that voice. That was the voice of her brother. Jasper was going to be in the Hunger Games! Was this a good thing? According to her mother it was, as Amber was barely containing her joy as the roar of applause sounded for the two tributes. Marvel tapped Glimmer's shoulder.

"You okay?" He asked worriedly; his 3 year old sisters Glitz and Glow peering out from behind him as Velvet and Linen approached Amber and Quartz to congratulate them. Glimmer nodded, for such a small child, she had a strange feeling about this. She'd seen Cashmere at her house with Jasper before. Maybe they were friends. And now one of them was going to die, it just didn't seem fair. Glitz wandered towards Glimmer from her place behind Marvel's legs and hugged her gently.

"Grimmer, Dasper will be fibe." Glimmer looked up at Marvel questioningly, normally Glitz was perfect with her pronunciation, it was her twin sister that wasn't the best at speaking.

"She thinks you're upset." Marvel said softly, smiling down at his sister who was so much like him in looks and lifting Glow into his arms so she didn't run off as the crowd dispersed to begin celebrating. "So she's talking like a baby, because it cheers Father up whenever he's sad. She started doing it to me and Linen whenever she thinks we're sad as well." Glimmer grinned down at Glitz, who was looking up at her with wide blue eyes.

"I'm fine Glitzy. Now, you go with Marvel and I'll see you at the celebrations after I say goodbye to Jasper." Glitz retreated sadly and took hold of Linen's, who was now stood next to them watching the conversation, hand. Marvel set Glow on her feet and hugged Glimmer tightly.

"You get to sit at the tributes table tonight Grim." Glimmer smirked as Marvel copied his sister and resorted to calling her by the name he'd given her when they first met and he couldn't pronounce Glimmer properly. "Don't forget about all us non-tribute families. We're not as important as you now." He pulled away and winked before being dragged off by his father towards the celebrations. Glimmer took hold of Gauze's outstretched hand and they began walking towards the Justice Building. She looked up to see her older sister's fine features were set in an frown.

"What's wrong Gauze?" Gauze looked down at her little sister, her long blonde hair brushing Glimmer's cheek as she did so. _Gleam and Glimmer are too young, _Gauze thought to herself._ Too young to be losing their brother. _So instead of telling the inevitable truth, that Jasper would probably refuse to kill Cashmere because he was completely in love with her and that she would probably have no problem killing him, she pulled her face into a smile and shook her head.

"Nothing. I'm excited! It's Jasper's Hunger Games!" Luckily, Glimmer seemed convinced, maybe because Gauze had missed out on her games, which would explain why she was frowning. She couldn't cry. Not while saying her final goodbyes to her brother.

* * *

_**AN: Alright, going to leave this chapter here. The next chapter will be dealing with the loss of Jasper and Glimmer and Marvel aged around 14 in the Academy. Drop a review and favourite and follow if you think it was worthy! Feel free to PM me with any questions!**_


	2. Seven's Gone

**Prepared to Die.**

**_Aloha my readers! This chapter jumps in time to where Glimmer and Marvel are 14 and attending the Academy! Hope you enjoy! (Also, I'm making Glimmer 18, not 16 when she goes in for her games, it is an AU after all!(: )_**

_(Things in italics are flashbacks to the time of the 64th Games)_

**Disclaimer: I do not own The Hunger Games or any of the characters, settings or other objects mentioned, apart from those that were born from my own imagination. **

* * *

The early morning sun that peered through the dark clouds that loomed over the Costello's household woke a 14 year old Glimmer from her sleep. It was early morning, that much she could tell, but not so early that it was unthinkable to get up and ready. Her father would surely be awake and eating breakfast, so Glimmer slid out of her bed and pulled out her Academy-suitable clothes. Black leggings with a white pull over shirt, topped with a smooth, short sleeved leather jacket which had District One's seal embroidered on the back in golden thread. She slipped on one of her many pairs of shoes, opting for thigh high black leather boots that shone with the polish that Gleam had inevitably used on them last night, and tied the laces tightly before venturing out into the dining room.

Glimmer was wrong, her father wasn't awake, but Gauze was. She looked tired, her straight blonde hair hanging down by her waist and her face clear of makeup. By the looks of it, Gem had kept her awake all night and Spinel had obviously not tried to help.

"Morning Glim." Gauze said exhaustedly, breaking up a roll of chocolate bread and distributing it on a plate with a few raspberries to give to her three year old daughter Gem as breakfast alongside some milk that the small brunette child was now drinking as though she'd never drunk before.

"Hey." Glimmer said shortly, walking past her sister and niece to go into the kitchen to make herself some food. In next to no time, a plate of French toast was sitting on the counter, a bowl of fresh blueberries sitting next to it alongside a tall thin glass of dark red juice that she assumed was strawberry and cranberry. Maybe with a little something extra if her dad had had his hands on it. She thought about going into the dining room to eat with her sister, but instead she quickly scarfed down the meal while she was stood at the counter before leaving for the dressing room to finish preparing for the day.

* * *

About half an hour later, Glimmer's hair had been combed back into a French braid that descended down her back to around the height of her upper arm, leaving her bangs out, and her face was made up to near perfection. She deemed herself ready for the day and said a brief goodbye to her mother, who was moulding her now short hair into perfectly formed curls, and to Gauze, who was now painting a dark black line onto her already shimmering pink eyelids. A leaf green backpack was waiting for her by the door that contained everything she'd need for her day at the Academy, so she swung it up onto her shoulders and exited the house.

The warm breeze blew softly through Glimmer's golden locks as she walked up to the bus park. Marvel was waiting there for her, looking handsome in slim black trousers, a white v-neck tee and a deep brown jacket with navy trim. He too was carrying a backpack, although his was a navy blue. Glimmer didn't have romantic feelings for him, god no, but she knew a certain other of her friends did. Sparks Kenway, the only other person at the bus stop, was wearing a white jacket and white shorts along with a black button up that stretched so she could move around and fight in it, complete with a yellow bag. Her long red hair was also pulled back from her face, but instead into two low pigtails that were sleek and shiny. The only thing Glimmer could say was wrong with her outfit was the shoes, simple black canvas shoes that were definitely not suitable for Academy wear. But never mind, Sparks was always one to slightly go against the rules.

"Hey Glim." Marvel said warmly, sauntering towards her and smiling. He was trying extra hard to be nice today it seemed, probably because it was the day where they would rewatch the 64th Games. Every week, they would watch and analyse their tributes in different Games, to learn from the deceased's mistakes or to master the victors' skills. Last week was the 63rd, where Gloss, the twin brother of Cashmere, won by seizing just a blunt sword and bludgeoning anyone he met to death with them. District 5 had a particularly rough time of it that year, with both their tributes jumping off the pedestals before the gong sounded, resulting in a death and a fatal injury before the Games had officially begun. District 11 came a close second after the male tribute leapt from a tree and slid a dagger cleanly through the District 2 female's throat. Gloss responded by hurling the sword at his heart hilt first, and the force was so great that Eleven was knocked backwards into a tree. It turns out he died from head injuries, not the sword wound, but Gloss had his victory and that was all that mattered. Glimmer pulled her lips to the right in an attempt to smile.

"Hi guys. Ready for the last day before the break?" District One, unlike District Two who only gave their tributes in training time off for the Reaping and the Games, allowed their students to have 2 weeks off every 6 months. Usually the Reaping and Games would fall into this break, and would be extended depending on the length of the Games themselves. Everything seemed to revolve around the Games. Their holidays, their deadlines, their paydays. Nothing escaped from it.

"You bet we are. I'm sick of this training crap. I want to get away from it so I can work with Mom." Sparks' voice cut through the train for thoughts that circled Glimmer's mind as the shining chrome bus drove up to pick up the three students and whisk them away to the large stone building that was on the Eastern side of One, closest to the Capitol. Marvel boarded the bus behind Glimmer; he slid his arm around her shoulders and squeezed her as they sat down together. She placed her head on his shoulder and sighed.

* * *

After a morning of spear training, which Marvel excelled at, knife throwing, Glimmer's secret weapon should she ever need it, and survival tests, all of which Sparks aced, the three friends sat down at their usual table in the mess hall, each of them holding a tray of food that they had chosen.

"You know," Marvel said whilst tucking into his array of turkey, chicken and ham cuts that were all resting on a bed of fresh green leaves, cheese, cucumber and mint, "I think you guys could be awesome at spear training, especially you Glim. You throw knives like a pro." Glimmer rolled her eyes and snapped a stalk of celery in half before dipping it in the cheese fondue and brandishing it at him.

"You stick to what you know and I'll stick to what I know, kay?" Marvel raised his hands as though to surrender and took a long drink from his glass of a vitamin-packed purple juice as Sparks began to speak.

"And I'm more hide and let the others fight." She stated casually, taking a bite out of her pulled pork sandwich. "Although if it came down to it, I could pack a punch." It was no secret that Sparks dreaded every reaping she attended, her worst nightmare would be having to compete in the Games. It wasn't that she was a coward, it was that she'd lost all four of her siblings to the Games. In the 65th it was Ajacks. 66th-Platinum. 68th-Sabrina And last year it was Vine. He was only 13 and no-one volunteered. Everyone had things they were terrified of. And this was Sparks'.

* * *

After lunch, it was time for Sparks, Marvel and Glimmer to follow all the other students into the viewing room, ready for a lecture on the 64th Hunger Games. Everyone who passed Glimmer was silent, she felt sorry for Sparks when it came to watching her brother and sister's games. A few gave her comforting smiles, but the majority just nodded tersely, a knowing look in their eye. She felt rather like a Capitol citizen, all the attention she was getting, when she took her seat in-between Marvel and another boy who she recognised as the brother of Shymmer, the tribute from Gloss' Hunger Games. He wasn't next to her last week, but it was comforting to know that he had been through what she was about to and wouldn't judge her for any actions she might involuntarily commit. What was his name? Mace? Before she could ask him, the doors swung shut with a clang, causing silence to fall almost instantaneously. The room was dark as the Capitol seal shone up on the white wall at the front. As it merged into District One's logo, her hand had found Marvel's and she was telling herself that it wasn't going to be as bad as she thought.

She was wrong.

It was worse.

Every little detail was scrutinised, but it seemed to Glimmer that they were focusing on Jasper and Cashmere so much more than anyone else. Well of course they were. They were the tributes from One. It began with the reapings, first Cashmere's, then Jasper's volunteer. As they volunteered, it cut to the members of their family. Cashmere's parents were accepting handshakes and hugs from everyone around them, first Gloss and then Cashmere? How perfect for them. Gloss himself was on the stage, taking his sister's hand in his and raising it high, generating a roar from the crowd. Then Graphite James was called. Then Jasper volunteered. The sheer excitement on her mother's face was undeniable as a crowd of people swarmed around her. She caught a glimpse of herself and Marvel stood together, eight years old. Times hadn't really changed, look at them now.

Then it cut to the tribute parade. Handsome chestnut horses pulled One's shining bronze chariot out onto the streets. Cashmere looked stunning, her long golden locks hanging down her back in effortless curls and her already beautiful face accentuated by a crystal white highlighter and a light pink lipstick and blush that seemed to glow. Both her and Jasper, who looked breathtaking with his windswept blonde hair and his bright green eyes that seemed to emit light, were wearing black costumes that were accentuated with bronze and emeralds. Jasper's suit jacket was trimmed with emerald, as was the bottom of his straight trousers, whereas the bodice of Cashmere's ankle length dress was completely covered with light and dark emeralds, leaving the black silk of her skirt to float daintily around her ankles. Underneath her dress and his trousers, green shoes were seen. It was no secret that that year, District One were the favourites.

After a 10 minute lecture on how to act during the tribute parade and constant replays of Cashmere and Jasper's made up faces, it was time for the training scores. Cashmere received an eight, which had surprised many that year, as Gloss received a ten, whereas Jasper managed to get himself a nine. It occurred to Glimmer for the first time that he probably used his skills in hand to hand combat to get that nine. She'd never really thought about it before.

The interviews were up next. Cashmere first, she ascended the stage as though she were royalty, already a victor. Her tactic was to play up the emotional side of her story and tug on the Capitol's heartstrings by explaining how she was so honoured to be following in her brother's footsteps and how if she died in the arena, she would die a 'victor in her own right' because she was doing her family proud. The fact that her interview ended with Cashmere crying into a handkerchief that Caesar had pulled from his suit with a flourish (he'd needed to use it after she had retreated back to her seat) and her good looks that were assisted by a shimmering silver and white dress that reached her knees at the front and rippled down to the floor at the back, ensured that she was favourable with the Capitol. Jasper however, took an extremely different approach. He was cheeky and bantered with Caesar to no end, raising laughs and cheers from the audience. Now there was no doubt that District One was now in the prime position for sponsors.

Then the arena. Normally, Glimmer would have no problem watching the bloodbath, or any aspects of the Games really, she loved it. This time however, she flinched every time Jasper came near a weapon or another tribute. She watched, involuntarily captivated by the suspense, even though she knew what was coming, as Jasper seized a backpack, a sword, two daggers and then Cashmere's hand before whisking them both out of the Cornucopia, closely followed by the tributes from Two and Four. He could run fast, and was second to the bloodbath, only after Ashlar, the male from Two. During the bloodbath, he took down both the female from Six and the male from Ten before he left, seriously injuring the male from Three in the process.

They went through all the Careers' deaths in detail. Finbar from Four and Lana from Two were killed by the tributes from Eleven, who were shot by Cashmere straight after, on the second day, leaving Ashlar, Maria, Cashmere and Jasper. Maria was killed a week later, a landslide incident, meaning both tributes from Four were gone.

Eventually, it wound down to the last four tributes, the three Careers and Lindell from Seven, who was nowhere to be seen. Glimmer knew it was coming. Marvel knew it was coming too, he liked Jasper a lot and had been preparing himself for this moment for a long time. He squeezed Glimmer's hand, but couldn't tear his eyes away from the screen. Glimmer felt the boy-Mace, so she assumed- next to her stiffen up as the argument broke out. Cashmere was not far away collecting sustenance from the woods, so when she heard the yelling, she dropped everything, removed her knife from her belt and ran back to the campsite. But it was too late. Ashlar had flipped and plunged a dagger into Jasper's abdomen and then pulled it out. He had no chance to do anything else, because there was a knife tossed at his neck immediately after the action was completed. Ashlar fell to the ground as his cannon sounded, a smirk still set on his face. Then, another cannon sounded. Cashmere immediately assumed it was Jasper's and ran to his side to find him still breathing shallowly. The all the students watched, entranced as Jasper began to speak.

* * *

_"Seven's gone." His voice was low and his breathing was ragged. Cashmere tried desperately to staunch the bleeding as she replied, tears beginning to stream down her grime covered face._

_"Yeah. So is-so's Two." She said, refusing to acknowledge Ashlar by his real name. _

_"Good." Jasper said, smiling up at her slightly. She wasn't looking at him, focusing on his wound so he grabbed her attention by raising a hand and tilting her chin so she had to look at him. "Second place would be bad if it wasn't to you." His breathing was becoming more restricted now, so Cashmere, who was now full on sobbing, attempted to quieten him. _

_"Shhh Jasper. Y-you'll be f-fine. You're n-not c-coming in s-second. You-you'll be FINE!" She practically screamed the last part, as though trying to convince herself, not just him. He just shook his head and continued smiling. _

_"You're gonna win Cashmere. And that-that's okay because it was always going to be you." Cashmere had not yet given up on trying to treat him. "B-because..." Jasper struggled to draw breath, but he had to get his last words out. "Because I love you." And with that, he was gone. The cannon was fired and Cashmere was pronounced victor, her shrieks and sobs of despair being drowned out by the words of Claudius Templesmith. The leaves blew around as the hovercraft arrived, so as a final farewell, Cashmere pressed her lips to Jasper's shakily, their foreheads touching. _

_"I love you too." She whispered before the ladder that was dropped next to her pulled her onto it using some sort of force. As she was dragged up to the hovercraft, she attempted to kick and scream and remove herself from the ladder's vice-like grip. Jasper's body got smaller and smaller until finally, she was enclosed in the hovercraft as a victor, where she could finally kick and scream freely._

* * *

The rest of a lecture was a blur for Glimmer. Nearly every student had a tear in their eye after Jasper's death. Mace was remaining stoic, a solitary tear gliding down his face. Most girls, including Sparks, had tears streaming down their cheeks, but Glimmer was way past that. Her eyes were red rimmed and swollen as her body wracked with silent sobs; her face half buried in Marvel's (who was trying not to cry for her) chest, her eyes still trained on the huge screen. It was now showing Cashmere's final interview with Caesar Flickerman. Caesar was wearing a sparkling black suit that matched his sliver hair, eyebrows and lips. Cashmere was also wearing black, but the audience and the students knew it was for a whole different reason.

* * *

_You could hear a pin drop as Cashmere entered the stage. Her black gown with long, sheer sleeves fluttered down the floor as she walked towards Caesar's outstretched hand, taking it in her own as she reached him. Caesar let the silence hang in the air for a minute as the two people sat down opposite each other, before gently beginning the interview._

_"So, Cashmere. What was going through your mind that day at the Reaping?" Cashmere's blue eyes remained focused steadily on Caesar's saddened face, but her voice wasn't nearly as steady as her gaze._

_"I knew I was going to be in the Games. When I volunteered all I could think about was the honour I would undoubtedly bring to my family when I won. And then Jasp-Jasper volunteered." She struggled over Jasper's name but continued nonetheless. "I didn't know what I was going to do. He and I have always been friends, we went to school together. He taught me hand to hand combat skills in return for me teaching him survival skills and logical tactics. I would always fight with my head, not my strength, whereas he was also completely the opposite. I never did learn to build up strength properly." She laughed sadly, which encouraged a the Capitol audience to laugh with her, a couple even shouted words of support. Caesar was undoubtedly moved as he leaned forwards to take Cashmere's hand once more._

_"Well I think, and I'm sure everyone else agrees, that you have the most strength out of us all." He said softly before turning to address the anticipant and teary crowd. "What do you think folks?" As if on cue, the crowd roared, shouting things such as "You are the greatest Cashmere!" and "Jasper would be proud!" and more commonly "Bless you!". The stage was practically drowning in flowers, roses, tulips, petunias and lilies came flying from all directions. After the wave of support had died down, Cashmere was weeping, so Caesar proceeded with the interview gingerly and at a steady pace._

* * *

Finally, it was Cashmere's victory tour. They only showed her tribute to Jasper, as it was the most emotional by far and they couldn't show all of the speeches as they were pretty much the same.

* * *

_Cashmere wrung her hands nervously as the Mayor of District One began with his opening remarks. Gloss came up to his sister and placed her blue leather jacket on her gently. It added a splash of Jasper's favourite colour to the otherwise black ensemble she was wearing, a glittering black tunic and shining black leggings with 3 inch high knee high boots. She spun around to face him, tears already brewing in her ocean-like eyes. _

_"I can't do this Gloss. His family will be there, his parents and his older sister and his little brother and sister. They're all going to hate me." Cashmere was getting more and more hysterical by the second, her voice rising to a higher and higher pitch just as the Mayor finished his speech. There was only enough time for Gloss to hug her quickly and retreat into the shadows stating that it would be fine before the doors swung open and Cashmere was faced with the entirety of her district. The river of people never seemed to end led up to the stage from the risen platform at the back where the Costellos were stood. Amber had let herself go, she'd gained weight, her hair was hanging by her elbows limply and she was wearing a simple black jumpsuit. Her husband seemed almost normal, but the glint of sadness in his emerald eyes was heartbreaking. Then there was the three children, 22 year old Gauze, a now 12 year old Gleam and 8 year old Glimmer. She'd never noticed that all of their names began with G except Jasper's. Odd. But either way, never in her 18 years of life had Cashmere Johnson been more nervous to speak in front of a crowd.  
_

_"Um." Cashmere looked down at the cards that were forced upon her beforehand. She wasn't going to use them. Not this time. "I obviously was born and raised in this district, and if it were under any other circumstances I would be stood on this stage with my head held high, proud to be a victor. I mean, it's not that i'm not proud to be a victor, because I am but-" She paused and looked down at her feet for a second before raising her eyes to the family that was stood outside of all others. "But I wish more than anything that I wasn't stood here because it's not me that deserves it. Jasper was ready to die for me and all I could think about was saving my own skin. He had his whole life ahead of him and I couldn't save him. I'm so sorry. I hope that over the rest of my life, I can grow to be just as good a person as he was. I will do my best to mentor the future tributes to emerge victorious in their own way. My thanks to the people of my district." And with that, Cashmere's speech was over. She exited the stage as quickly as she could, leaving behind a roaring audience, praise flying from all directions._

* * *

The state of shock Glimmer was in continued until the bus pulled up at the park as night had fallen. Marvel got off the bus and walked her home after waving a goodbye to Sparks, who set off in the other direction. He was really worried about her, Glimmer never lost her cool in front of people before. She was very good at hiding her emotions. Therefore, when he reached her door, instead of turning around and going home, he followed her into her house.

"Hey Ms Costello." He greeted Amber with a smile. She immediately grinned back, she had always liked Marvel.

"Evening Marvel, will you be staying for dinner?" Glimmer shot a look at her mother, who simply shrugged and continued smiling sweetly at him.

"You know I love your cooking." Marvel said amusedly, leaning against a chair to allow Glimmer time to go get changed. She rolled her eyes and stalked into her bedroom.

* * *

After 5 minutes, Glimmer was wearing a pair of dark burgundy jeans with a white tee and a soft blue jumper that reached her knees. Her hair had been taken out of its tight braid and been allowed to flow down in curls. She opened the door of her bedroom to allow Marvel in. He'd gotten changed also, into blue pants and a red and white chequered button up. In response to Glimmer's questioning look, he shrugged nonchalantly and sat down on her bed.

"I had a feeling I was coming over today so I brought them to the Academy with us." She nodded and sat opposite him with her legs crossed, looking down and allowing her hair to fall across her face. "Your mom says dinner'll be ready in an hour."

"Okay." Glimmer looked up at her friend and half smiled. "She loves you." Marvel chuckled and stretched out his arms slightly.

"Wonder why. She's the only one who seems to."

"You remind her of him." Silence hung in the air painfully after Glimmer's reply. Marvel looked down awkwardly for a second and then moved so he was sitting next to her. He then wrapped his arm around her shoulders, just as he had done on the bus to the Academy. Surprisingly, she didn't try to push away, but she didn't really react either. She just remained stoic and sighed.

* * *

_**AN: I'm gonna leave it here! Please review and the next chapter will be up ASAP!**_


	3. Forget Everything About Marvel

**Prepared to Die.**

**_Aloha my readers! Chapter 3 whoo! This is the reaping for the 74th Hunger Games (so Glimmer and Marvel's basically) and the train ride to the Capitol. After that, it will be the Tribute Parade. Enjoy!_**

**Disclaimer: I do not own The Hunger Games or any of the characters, settings or other objects mentioned, apart from those that were born from my own imagination.**

* * *

The energy and buzz that filled the air in District One meant only one thing. It was reaping day. The sky was dark and gloomy, completely the opposite of the atmosphere in the district, so brightly coloured fairy lights had been strung onto every building in the square. Silk flags still fluttered from roofs as all children aged 12 to 18 filed into the square, the same excitement and anticipation filling nearly all of their hearts. Glimmer walked alongside Marvel and Sparks for most of the way there until they had to split with Marvel for him to go stand with the other boys. He threw an arm around them both quickly.

"See you later girls." His voice was strong. Anyone who'd heard him could tell that he was going to volunteer, and that almost nothing would deter him from that path. As he walked away, Glimmer continued to walk as casually as possible towards the front of the crowd of amassed children. She saw her family with a quick glance to the side. Her mother, who was wearing a bright orange dress that was accentuated with a gold belt, gold shoes and a gold hairband pushing back her short blonde curls, was clutching her father's arm with her own gloved hand, both of them wearing the same strained smiles they'd had at Gleam's reaping. Gleam himself was stood with one of his hands in seven year old Gem's, whose long brown hair had been woven cleverly into a braided bun, and the other around the waist of an extremely drained looking Gauze. _What an awful way to spend my birthday,_ Glimmer thought miserably to herself, glancing down at her red shoes and gloves as the new escort, Septima Overwhill, took to the stage.

"Good morning District One and happy Hunger Games!" Her Capitol accent rung loudly throughout the square, causing the normal uproar of cheering that Glimmer half heartedly took part in. She wasn't really paying much attention to the noise around her until Septima had drawn a name from the pink bowl and had tottered back to the microphone to read it.

"Sparks Kenway!" _No._ Glimmer's head shot up as the words came instantaneously out of her mouth.

"I volunteer!" Sparks was gawking at her with an open mouth. She wasn't sure what made her say it. She'd promised herself and others that she wouldn't. Not after Jasper. But somehow, she was walking towards the stage, smoothing the folds of her silver dress out and ascending the steps slowly. Then she was facing all the people of her district and her family, who she refused to look at.

"Excellent!" Septima's clipped tone cut through her many, many thoughts as a microphone was shoved in front of her mouth. She stated her name, still in an almost dreamlike state, as she caught Marvel's eye. He was shaking his head frantically at her, almost as if he knew that-

"Marvel Herriot!" **That** caught Glimmer's attention. Surely someone would volunteer. Surely there'd be another 18 year old desperate for the chance to compete. Anyone but him, someone, anyone had to volunteer. Why the hell was he walking towards the stage? Why was no-one volunteering? Why were they shaking hands as though he was going to compete in the Games with her? Because he wasn't, right?

* * *

Almost as soon as the door to the Justice Building was shut, Glimmer came round to what she had done. Why had she volunteered? If only it wasn't Sparks' name. If it wasn't, she wouldn't be in this mess. She just couldn't stand there and watch the Kenway family lose another member, especially not one as intelligent as Sparks. _At least now she won't have to go back to the Academy. Maybe her mom will give her the top job at the jewellers. I would've loved to have seen her- _Glimmer almost slapped herself in an attempt to stop thinking like she was already dead. Like she had no chance whatsoever. She was pretty decent at throwing knives, could work her way around a sword if she tried and was vicious with her fists if worst came to worst. Her good looks gave her an edge in order to gain sponsors, and when coming from District One, you were never short on allies. _But one of them will be Marvel. And one of you is going to die. _Before she even had a chance to consider slapping herself again, her family had burst through the door.

First to wrap their arms around her was, surprisingly to her and probably everyone else, Gleam. Before the rest of her family were even fully through the door, he was whispering frantically in her ear.

"Glim, you can win this. You need to forget everything about Marvel. When you get in that arena, he'll want to kill you as much as the tributes from any other district. I know you love him like a brother, we do too, but we need you to come home. We've lost Jasper okay, we can't lose you. Mom would go back to how she was, Dad would go crazy, Gauze just went through a breakup and she's alone with Gem and she's pregnant again on her own, you know that. We can't-I can't lose you okay? You're my little sister and no matter how much I've teased you or pissed you off, I love you and I've already lost my brother. I can't go through it again, especially not with you because you're younger than me and it's my job as a big brother to protect you. I can't be in that arena with you but I can give you advice now, okay? You need to promise me that you'll forget everything about Marvel, he's just another tribute, another target, that's all he is now. One more obstacle stopping you from coming home." Glimmer found herself nodding as Gleam was pulled off her by her mother, who in turn threw her arms around her.

"Oh Glimmer, why did you do it?" Amber asked, more worried than angry.

"I don't know." She replied thickly, squeezing her mother's waist quickly before pushing her away and rushing over to her father. Quartz had been stood motionless since they got into the room, so when Glimmer approached him he seemed to emerge from a trance.

"You can't let Mom go back to how she was after Jasper." was all Glimmer said to her father in a low voice before she moved onto Gauze and Gem, who were looking terrified and confused respectively. Gem was the first to speak.

"Where are you going?"

"To the Capitol." Glimmer found her voice catching in her throat for the first time. "I'm going to be in the Hunger Games." She looked down at her niece and realised with a pang that she was the same age as her and Marvel were all those years ago the day before Jasper's reaping. Gem was about to be thrown into the Academy, to be prepared to fight for her right to live. Pushing these thoughts away, she addressed her sister.

"It'll be fine. You've got Mom, Dad and Gleam to help with Gem and the new baby. You'll find someone else. But...don't watch the Games. If I di...if Marvel wins I don't want you to have to see it." The door opened as a Peacekeeper came in to escort everyone out. Suddenly, her brother's arms were around her again, followed by everyone else's.

"I love you guys." Glimmer yelled as they were forced out of the room. The last person's voice she heard was Gleam's as he yelled back desperately.

"You can win this Glim!"

* * *

A visit from Sparks and her family, and then Marvel's three sisters and his father, left Glimmer feeling extremely drained. She met up with Marvel again just as they were boarding the train, but she disregarded him, not wishing to discuss the days events. Septima had sent them to their rooms to quickly change, warning them to meet for the recap of the reapings in half an hour. It only took about two hours to reach the Capitol, seeing as they were the closest district to it.

Glimmer remained by the window, watching the tall buildings of One fade into the horizon, before proceeding to her room. Their train would be the first to arrive in the Capitol, but they would have to stay on the train overnight in order to wait for the other tributes to arrive so they could all proceed into prep together. As the last flicker of her home disappeared, she resigned herself to glancing around her room, which was much nicer than her room at home, but was similar in terms of layout. She removed her dress, carelessly tossing it onto her bed and stepped into the shower, which washed the make-up from her face and the hair lacquer from her hair. After she was dry, Glimmer dressed in a cool blue button up with denim shorts, allowing her hair to hang loosely in a straight mane. She deemed herself presentable and went out to the dining car to join the assembled crowd there. Marvel was sat with Septima in two chairs at the back of the room, so the only other place to sit was at the table with the two people she was determined to avoid on this trip.

After leaving a minute for an awkward silence to settle in the air, Septima cleared her throat and began speaking.

"Well. Firstly, it pleases me to congratulate you on your success in securing your place as District One's tributes. I'm sure your families will be very proud." The words fell from her mouth in a rehearsed manner, she obviously had been waiting to give this speech. It was her first year as District One's escort, she'd been District Two's for the past five years. Marvel shot a look at Glimmer, which she tried to ignore, remembering the words that Gleam had said to her. Was it really only 2 hours ago? It felt like a million years. As there was no response, and Glimmer was avoiding Marvel's eye and Cashmere was avoiding Glimmer's, Gloss nodded at Septima, who quickly sprung into action. She got up, signalling Marvel to do the same, and walked up to sit in-between Gloss and Glimmer. She switched the screen on with a remote as lunch was brought into the room.

With a plate of turkey salad sitting in front of her, Glimmer watched the reapings with apprehension. They started with District Twelve, who they watched live as it was happening right at that moment. A twelve year old girl, Primrose Everdeen or something, was called. She looked tiny, her hair was blonde like Glimmer's but she had blue eyes like Marvel, as she walked up to the stage. Just before she reached it however, something extraordinary happened. A dark girl leapt out of the crowd and somehow volunteered.

"Twelve has a volunteer?!" Gloss asked disbelievingly, glancing at his sister who seemed just as shocked as him. The situation became clearer as the girl announced that she was in fact the young girl's sister, Katniss Everdeen. Glimmer watched as Gloss jotted this down on a piece of paper, followed by Peeta Mellark, the male tribute from District Twelve.

"I'm sure Twelve won't be that big of a threat, but we should watch them this year. Everdeen seems fit enough and that Mellark looks strong." Gloss said matter-of-factly, leaning back to watch the reaping from Eleven. A twelve year old, Rue, was again called, but no-one volunteered. Rue looked like she was around ten, she didn't look like she was old enough to be even going to school, let alone being sent to fight for her life. Thresh, the male, looked more like a threat, he was built heavily and could probably pick both Glimmer and Marvel up without struggle, even though he was also 18 so it seemed. Gloss recommended that they should try to get him as an ally, instead of attempting to fight him as an enemy. Glimmer noticed that Cashmere wasn't doing much talking, but was trying not to look at her.

The reapings passed slowly, but no-one really caught Marvel or Glimmer's attention until it came to District Two. A girl called Clove volunteered, she was small but seemed vicious and determined. According to Septima, she was only 15, and had been reaped last year, however an older female had volunteered. They were discussing how she could be used as an ally when the male was reaped. It was a 16 year old, but before his name had been called fully, someone else had lunged forward to volunteer. Glimmer's breath caught in her throat as she looked across at Marvel for the first time since the reaping. His eyed reflected the same look. Because they knew him.

"Something wrong Miss Costello?" Septima asked concernedly. Glimmer looked across at her mentors, who were shaking their heads.

"No...no I'm fine." Unbeknownst to their escort, she was the only one in the room that didn't understand Glimmer's reaction. Seeing as travel between the districts was forbidden, it wouldn't be a great idea to tell her how exactly the female tribute from One were connected to the male from Two.

* * *

_Marvel had just turned 16, and Glimmer was 15, but would turn 16 on the day of the next reaping, which meant that they would be taken into a special class that involved training with the two other thirds of the Career districts, Two and Four. This year, the class was held in One, so they didn't have to travel anywhere, but were taken into a large room that had weapons and survival gear strewn everywhere. The 16 year olds from the other two districts were already there. Glimmer; as the youngest in her grade, was first in line as they entered the room, Marvel was around 20 people behind her, and Sparks was nearly at the end of the line. Being first, she could get a good look at who may one day be her allies and her competition. Her eyes flickered over the people from Four, the girls were all more muscly than her, and the guys could probably throw Marvel at a wall without exertion. Cashmere and Gloss were stood against a wall, alongside the mentors from Two, Brutus and Enobaria, who were both terrifying, and Mags, Finnick and Annie from Four. Mags was smiling absent-mindedly, Finnick was smirking (which was making some girls from Two act rather oddly) and Annie was staring blankly at the wall opposite. Gloss began to speak in a loud, clear voice, addressing the assembled crowd, but Glimmer's attention was being taken by someone else._

_A largely built blonde boy was looking directly at her interestedly, but Glimmer refused to acknowledge him till now. She glanced quickly across at him, allowing him to smirk cockily at her, before looking away again and turning her attention to Gloss, who was now telling them to pick a partner from a different district and teach each other a certain skill for an hour each. Before Glimmer could even look at a person from Four or another from Two, he was by her side, the smug smile now wider. _

_"Cato." He introduced himself quickly, as though he was worried she would leave if he didn't. Glimmer looked up at him, he was about 6 inches taller than her, and nodded, mirroring his smirk. _

_"Glimmer." Cato smirked as he led her to the sword centre, thereby making it clear that he was going first._

_"Sounds like something you'd call your pet rabbit. Maybe you should be called 'Bunny'." Glimmer narrowed her eyes at him as he handed her a sword. She was awful at swordfighting, they were too heavy and knives, daggers and bows were more her thing. He seemed to have picked up on this, probably because of her small height and weight, and pulled his lips to the left, standing aside to let her take her place in front of the practice dummy. She just stood there, waiting for him to tell her to do something. He shrugged so she scoffed and raised the sword above her head which showed exactly how incompetent she was with that weapon. He chuckled and unfolded his arms, walking up behind her and taking her hands. He pried one of her hands from the sword and left the weapon in her right hand. Glimmer froze unintentionally as Cato took her hands in his and leant down to whisper in her ear._

_"You're useless Bunny." She knew exactly what he was trying to do, he was trying to distract her and get her off guard. Well two could play at that game. _

_After the training session was over, Glimmer was still no better with a sword, and Cato completely failed at shooting a bow and arrow. But when it came to saying goodbye as the kids from Two and Four left for their respective districts, neither of them really wanted to separate. _

_"So...nice to meet you Cato." Glimmer said, holding out her hand for him to shake. Instead of that though, he took her hand, pulled her towards him and kissed her cheek quickly._

_"You too Miss Glimmer. Hope we meet again." He smirked and sauntered towards his friends from District Two, who were slapping him on the back and congratulating him. Glimmer walked towards Marvel and Sparks, both of whom were grinning amusedly at her. She looked at them and shook her head._

_"Oh shut up you two."_

* * *

After lunch, the Capitol slowly came into sight. The tall buildings shone as though they had been polished and the sun bounced off their reflective walls. Then, the people came into sight. It was like thousands of Septima Overwhills all craning their necks to catch a glimpse of them. Marvel and Glimmer looked nervously at each other as Cashmere spoke quietly for the first time.

"Go wave at them. They'll love it." Glimmer glanced at her and rose from her seat to stand at the window, looking around at the people who were waving frantically at her. She felt Marvel come up behind her, so she smiled and began waving, watching as the people of the Capitol went crazy. Maybe she could win this.

_**AN: Hope you enjoyed! Drop a review maybe? Fave and follow if it was worthy!**_


	4. Don't fret Marple

**Prepared to Die.**

**_Aloha my readers! Welcome to Chapter 4! Congratulations if you have made it this far, what with my updating being all over the place! It's currently the holidays, so once I get back to school, I'll have more of an updating schedule. Huge hugs and butterfly kisses if you have reviewed (and 10 brownie points if you know where that reference is from!) _**

**_Update: Just logged on today to 11 more beautiful, lovely reviews. Seriously guys, I nearly cried! :') I love you all and hope you'll continue reading :)_**

**Disclaimer: I do not own The Hunger Games or any of the characters, settings or other objects mentioned, apart from those that were born from my own imagination.**

* * *

After a terrible nights sleep in her room, Glimmer rose from her bed and quickly pulled on an outfit from one of her drawers that consisted of a light pink dress and a white jacket. She pulled her tangled hair into a bun, not bothering to brush it, as she had been told she would be sent to a team of people who would fix her appearance today. So she left the dark circles that were inevitably under her eyes and went out into the dining car for breakfast before they would be sent into the prep teams.

"Good lord, Glimmer dear you look awful! Well as awful as it's possible to be with such a pretty face." Septima whined, her grey eyes that clashed badly with her orange tinted skin narrowed in concern and disapproval. Glimmer replied with a nod and sarcastic smile as she sat down next to Marvel, who looked very pleased that he was being acknowledged by her again, and helped herself to toast and butter. Gloss strode into the room, a smile set firmly on his face, and sat opposite the two 18 year olds. Marvel looked around curiously.

"Where's Cashmere?" Gloss shrugged nonchalantly; but both tributes could tell he knew exactly where she was.

"Still in her room. Don't fret Marple, she'll be out soon." Marvel nodded and took a drink of water, ignoring the fact that he'd mispronounced his name.

"Today is the tribute parade. It's vital that you make a good impression on the people of the Capitol. Most of them have more money than sense." Septima, who was passing behind him, aimed a well placed swipe at the back of his head as she ventured into Cashmere's room.

"I said most!" Gloss protested as she left the dining car. "Now, because these people have all this money and not much to spend it on apart from tattooing themselves and buying sparkly wigs, the Hunger Games is a perfect opportunity to get rid of some of it. Your prep teams can make you look amazing, but that's only half the battle. Your charisma, your reaction to attention, your way of dealing with crowds, these are all things the sponsors take into account." Glimmer and Marvel were hanging onto his every word, knowing that anything and everything was of help to them before the arena. Cashmere and Septima entered the room then. Her long blonde hair was pulled into a half up half down style, the waves tumbling down the back of her blue jumpsuit. She sat next to her brother, opposite Marvel, seeming perfectly normal. She definitely wasn't the nervous wreck that she was yesterday.

"Ah, Cash. Excellent!" Gloss exclaimed, almost too cheerfully. Despite Cashmere's change in mood, there was still a certain awkwardness in the air. "Tell our tributes what the prep team will be doing today. Cashmere beamed and began chatting away, telling them how, because they were both well groomed and already presentable (carefully avoiding the fact that Glimmer's under-eyes were darker than the mines in Twelve and that Marvel's hair could probably comfortably house a couple of mocking-jays) they wouldn't need much work doing. All they would need was make-up, hair and nails (maybe a bit of hair removal for Marvel) before being taken to get their costumes fitted. All through her speech, Glimmer was wondering what had caused her sudden mood swing, and why it happened when it did.

* * *

After another hour of chat about the parade, Glimmer and Marvel were whisked off to their respective prep teams. Glimmer had received two men and a woman. The youngest man, Aelius, seemed more amiable and reassuring, probably due to the fact that he was the least altered of the prep team. The only things that made him different from a normal human being was his bright yellow hair and lips and the spiralling, shimmering black tattoos that rose up from his wrist to his shoulder. No-one got tattoos like that back in One, there was only ever enough money to pay for small ones at a time. Thinking about this made Glimmer unconsciously flinch her left ankle, where a pattern of small stars wound a ring around her foot. She'd got the tattoo when she was 16, as this was the youngest she could get one, and had been with Sparks and Marvel one day after training. Sparks got a small bird on her back, in-between her shoulders, and Marvel chose to have a blade on the right side of his chest. _Marvel. _It almost physically hurt her to think about him. In a couple of weeks, either him or her, or maybe even both of them, would be dead. She thought back to that night, the night before her brother's reaping. He was so sure he was going to live. And so was she. Well now look at them. The odds weren't in their favour.

"Excuse me? Could you lie down please?" Glimmer blinked, snapping out of her reverie of thoughts as Hadriana's, the woman with bubblegum pink hair and unnaturally blue eyes that were encircled with dark red tattoos that fanned out to send lines across her face, voice cut into them. As Glimmer lay down, she noticed that her tattoos looked inexplicably like blood, which was something she would have to get used to when going into the Games.

"Such lovely hair." Ennius, the man with chalk white skin and black glistening hair that had a permanent wet look, commented as he ran a brush through it, not hesitating to yank the knots out with force. Glimmer gripped the edge of the surface she was laying on, forcing herself to bite her tongue and not employ a few choice swear words at him. "Is it natural?" He obviously thought that the blonde was just a dye, like his hair obviously was.

"Yes." She said through gritted teeth as Hadriana used a machine that looked like a torture device to shape and buff her nails. Aelius was working on her toenails quietly, but at least he wasn't wielding a machine that looked like something out of a nightmare. Ennius was now waffling on about how he has an older sister that has hair like me, but hers was apparently 'enhanced' with the help of Capitol hairdressing. If Capitol hairdressing made people look almost deranged, Glimmer secretly thought that they should visit District One some time.

* * *

After a couple of hours with the prep team, Glimmer had been covered from head to foot in some kind of metallic silver paint. Her hair had been curled into ringlets and allowed to sprawl down her back. The curls had also been sprayed with a paint that was see through at first sight, but every time her hair moved into different lights, it flashed all the colours of the rainbow. Her nails and lips had been coated in a dark, matte red colour, which seemed odd to her as everything else the prep team had done to her was glitter and shine centred. Glimmer secretly thought that she looked a little bit like some sort of shimmering doll, which would help her around zero percent but she bit her tongue. The one thing that made her slightly happier was the fact that Aelius was also her stylist. She knew she'd seen him somewhere before.

"Now Glimmer." He began, his voice was distinctively Capitol and Glimmer was beginning to think that he maybe wasn't as demure as he seemed. "We always try to incorporate the tributes personal style with the luxurious reputation of District One. We noticed that you wore silver and red at your reaping, hence this." He gestured towards her shimmering body. "Now, however," Aelius continued, pulling a opaque garment bag from the rack next to him. "We need to address the luxury goods." He unzipped the bag to reveal her costume for the parade, and Glimmer unintentionally gasped. It was a tunic that was made of what looked like white silk, but was covered with several types of glittering jewels. Most of them were diamonds and pearls, but there was odd jewels such as rubies and emeralds scattered around the waist, hem and edges of the short sleeves. Aelius helped her to get into the tunic, which felt like it weighed around a ton, and then the heels that made her almost 5 inches taller. She was thanking all gods that she knew how to walk in heels.

* * *

The tributes were all assembled in a large room with 12 chariots, District One's at the front and District Twelve's at the back. Glimmer was already getting on the chariot that was silver just like her body and was emblazoned with a large, black 1 when Marvel came up behind her.

"Hey Glim." She jumped and turned around. Marvel was decorated exactly the same way she was, and looked quite apprehensive about talking to her. She turned back to the chariot and got on it, shuffling over to the far side of it.

"Hey. You look fabulous." She heard him chuckle as followed her onto the chariot and then she turned to face him as he replied.

"You do too, silver is definitely your colour." Glimmer smiled and was about to reply, when her gaze was drawn to the pair of tributes entering at that moment. They were both dressed in Roman style armour that obviously represented their district's trade, Masonry. Before she could look away, Cato had looked up and met her eyes. For a minute, they just looked at each other before he nodded slightly at her and looked away. Glimmer looked down at her feet as Aelius and Marvel's stylist, Hera, came up to them and adjusted their clothes so they were the most attractive they could possibly be. Marvel tapped her shoulder.

"You okay?" She didn't have a chance to reply as suddenly, the stylists had leapt back and the chariot had lurched forward. Glimmer instinctively grabbed Marvel's arm to steady herself, but let go of it as soon as she was out on the street, ready to meet the crowds of people who could possibly save her life.

* * *

Cato was irritable enough after being stripped of a lot of body hair and having had makeup applied to his face, something he hoped he would never have to say to anyone, but when he was forced into some sort of ancient armour, he reached the end of his tether. He met up with Clove outside of the chariot room to find that she was wearing a matching outfit, but because of her small stature, it looked better on her in his opinion.

"I swear I'm going to kill my prep team and stylist." Clove muttered under her breath to Cato, who grunted in response. Clove had noticed that he'd been off with her, and everyone really, since yesterday. He was fine all through most of the reapings, muttering to Brutus about certain tributes, for example the fact that District Four would not be welcomed in the Career pack seeing as the two tributes were really young and weak. And then, when District One came up and this blonde girl, Glimmer, volunteered for a redheaded girl, and Cato switched to quiet mode. For some reason, the fact that a random girl from One was against them in the Games really got to him. And she couldn't help but wonder why.

**_AN: Hope you enjoyed, sorry it's not as long as normal. I wanted to update though. Review if you enjoyed and fave and follow if it was worthy!_**

**Review Question: Who do you think should have won the 74th Games aside from Katniss and Peeta?**


	5. Feelings aren't a good thing to have

**Prepared to Die.**

**_Aloha my readers! Welcome to Chapter 5! To my lovely guest reviewers, your latest reviews are coming through, so thank you very very much! Please enjoy this chapter (if you like the Glarvel friendship, you'll like this chapter.)_**

**Disclaimer: I do not own The Hunger Games or any of the characters, settings or other objects mentioned, apart from those that were born from my own imagination.**

* * *

As the snow white horses pulled into the Training Centre after the parade, Cashmere, Gloss, Aelius and Hera were running, or tottering in Hera's case, towards Marvel and Glimmer, who were both a little disorientated from the ride through the city. All four of them had smiles on their faces, but their eyes didn't match their happy expression.

"Oh well done dears!" Hera was positively glowing with pride all over, however her orange eyes were looking almost scared. Gloss practically lifted Glimmer off the chariot, congratulating her on her performance, before she even had the chance to exit it herself, taking her slightly by surprise. Marvel grinned and hopped off the chariot to stand next to his best friend, who grabbed onto his arm as she was still slightly wobbly after the chariot ride. He gladly put his arm around her waist to stop her from falling; he was quite upset that she had been ignoring him. Gloss raised his eyebrow at him in a joking manner, making Marvel shake his head sarcastically. So when he was about 15 or 16 Marvel had had a crush on Glimmer, nearly every guy in the Academy had (or they'd lied about not finding her attractive), but that was just a phase. She was his best friend, nothing more. Especially since she obviously liked the guy from Two.

Glimmer beamed widely as Gloss set her down next to Cashmere, who smiled awkwardly at her, but Glimmer knew she was trying to be genuinely happy for her, so it made her feel good. She felt herself about to topple over, so she instinctively grabbed Marvel, who gratefully slipped an arm around her waist. Before she could say anything to any of the people in front of her, her attention was drawn to Cato out of the corner of her eye, who was dismounting his chariot and looking in the other direction. It looked like he was eyeing up that Katniss Everdeen from Twelve. Despite the fact that she'd only met him once, she felt a pang of jealousy hit her heart as he continue staring at her. Why was she feeling such overwhelming things about this boy from Two who she'd only ever met once? Glimmer wasn't one to feel so strongly about something, so she looked away from him and up at Marvel, who was looking down at her with the exact same expression as he was when she had first met Cato. She punched his arm playfully and walked away, following the beckoning Cashmere towards the glass lift that was waiting for them.

As all six of them crowded in along with the team from District 6; Glimmer found herself pressed uncomfortably between the glass wall and Marvel's chest, he instinctively wrapped his arms around her as though to protect her from the male from 6, who was on her other side. Although she didn't mind it, it made her feel like she was already in the Games, and she was trying to remind herself that she had almost a whole week before she had to go into the arena when Cato finally looked her way. He glanced carelessly towards the elevator, then looked back at it when he noticed Glimmer. His eyes first reflected some sort of happiness at the sight of her, but when he noticed that Marvel's arms were still around her, he looked at his feet for a second which made it look like he was upset. This was something that was perfectly natural for the two friends, as Marvel chatted to Gloss and Hera about the parade, but Glimmer looked down as though she were guilty about it. When her eyes met his again, his usual cocky glint was back. She smirked sarcastically as the elevator was about to set off and leant further into Marvel as it whisked away, as though to prove that they were close, catching the almost hurt look in his eye before she was zoomed out of sight.

* * *

Cato watched as the lift zoomed up to Floor One, and then presumably Floor Six, before shaking his head and turning back to Brutus, Enobaria and Clove, who were all stood together. They were already discussing the tactics on how to act in training when he approached them. Although he tried to listen, he found himself slipping in and out of a trance. Most of his thoughts were concerning Glimmer, and how they were to be sent into an arena together to kill or be killed. What was he doing to himself? Cato Sykes was raised in District Two, where the only thing that's hammered into your brain is how honourable it is to volunteer as tribute, the pride that you bring to your district. He realised now that they didn't mention how difficult it was. Cato had just assumed that once the prep and training were over, it was easy. Make allies, kill the others, then kill your allies right? That's how it went if you were a Career.

Apparently not this time.

He was in trouble, but not from his mentors, or his escort, or even Clove. It was his own mind, telling him that he couldn't kill these people. Districts Three to Twelve? He could kill them in a heartbeat, although the twelve year olds from Four, Six, Nine and Eleven may cause him some guilt, but he would get over it. But One and Two? Marvel, he would kill at a push, but he obviously meant so much to Glimmer, which meant it would make him and her feel terrible, and she would probably never speak to him again. Clove was from his district, but even she would be easier to kill than Glimmer. Why was he feeling like this about a girl from One, who probably had a boyfriend (or several boyfriends) back home? And that's if she wasn't with Marvel, which he'd first assumed she wasn't, but what if she was? Or maybe she was just trying to make it look like she was, maybe to make him jealous? Well then Miss Glimmer, two could play at that game.

* * *

Glimmer's mouth almost fell open at the first sight of their living space. It was probably double the size of her house, and much more luxurious. Everything seemed to be made of platinum or some sort of precious metal or gem. Septima seemed to notice the looks on their faces; by her expression, these chambers were exactly the same as District Two's.

"Everything is at your disposal dears. Now, go change and wash and we'll reconvene for dinner in an hour." She stated in her normal bubbly manner, directing them towards their rooms. Before Marvel went left to go to his, he leant down and whispered in Glimmer's ear in his impression of the Capitol accent.

"Maybe your lover from Two will be here when we 'reconvene' hmm dear?" He winked at her shocked and slightly scared look and sauntered off to his room to wash the metallic paint from his body. Glimmer shook herself out of it and practically ran off to her room.

* * *

When both Glimmer and Marvel were back to their normal colour and were dressed in clothes that didn't weigh around the same as the horses that pulled them out onto the street, they joined their mentors, Septima and their stylists at the table for dinner. The atmosphere was heavy and the silence was almost painful until Cashmere broke it bluntly.

"District Twelve completely outshone you tonight." She shot a look at Aelius and Hera as though it was their fault. Glimmer secretly felt bad for them, it wasn't their fault that Twelve had a genius stylist. "But," Glimmer looked back at Cashmere as she continued, "you guys are more appealing than them, without any help from a fiery costume. Glimmer, you are possibly the best looking tribute that's around this year, and we need to play that up for all it's worth. Make all the males -and possibly some females- in Panem fall for you." Glimmer smiled and looked down, secretly thinking there was only one guy she wanted to fall for her, and then looked up at Marvel to find his amused smirk set back into place. She gave him the finger as Cashmere turned to him, something that Gloss noticed. He smiled at her and gave her the thumbs up; he seemed to like her cocky yet sometimes sweet attitude.

"Now, Marvel, you're not too bad yourself." Cashmere said, causing Marvel to pull a mock offended face. Glimmer smiled teasingly at him from next to Hera. "But you're main plan will be exploiting your personality. You're funny and give off this aura of confidence even if you're feeling crap." Marvel's expression changed back to his normal smile and he folded his arms and leant back in his chair, returning the finger to Glimmer behind Septima's, who was sat in-between them, back. She shook her head at him amusedly, pulling the hem of her dark green button up shirt down slightly. It felt like it was made of silk, and her white jeans were probably the most comfortable pants she'd ever worn. She figured that while she was in the Capitol, she should take advantage of the luxuries that she was offered, hence her wearing a solid gold choker style necklace and having used about 50 different soaps on her hair to make it smell a lot like raspberries for some reason.

"Tomorrow you start training." Gloss' deep voice had replaced Cashmere's. He leant forward, instantaneously capturing the attention of all occupants of the table and ensuring silence. "Now you'll have three days of training, an individual assessment, and then a day of training with me and Cashmere. Day One, which is tomorrow obviously, is all about getting to know your competition and intimidating them. Scare them, or at least make them wary, and you'll have them in the palm of your hand. They'll either be with you or against you. Now. The main threats this year are District Twelve, their stint at the parade tonight will probably gain them sponsors. Also, the male from Eleven is strong, possibly one of the strongest out there, but there's the little girl, Rue? He obviously cares a lot about her, and that's where his weakness lies. And then there's Two." Marvel wiggled his eyebrows at Glimmer, who scowled at him warningly, something that Cashmere didn't miss. "Cato and Clove will be your allies at the start, but once tributes start dropping off, they'll turn against you." Gloss brandished his knife at Glimmer then Marvel, both of whom flinched unintentionally. "You must be prepared for this. Tributes from Two are always vicious, but they're not always clever. They think with their weapon, not their head or heart. You two seem intelligent enough, that's how you can take them down."

* * *

After dinner, Glimmer had retreated to her room, intending to spend the night alone, but Marvel had other ideas. He bounded into her room happily after she had changed into comfy pink shorts and a long sleeved white top and wrapped his arms around her waist, scaring her practically to death.

"Fuc-MARVEL!" She punched his arm hard to get him to release her, but he refused to give up.

"Yeeees Grimmer?" Marvel put his chin on her shoulder and squeezed her tightly.

"Let me go you idiot." He pouted at her, but she shot him a death glare, so he released her and allowed her to sit down in one of the chairs near the window. Marvel took a sweeping look around her room, at the drawer that was still open that was bursting with a rainbow of coloured tops that she'd obviously been through to change into sleepwear.

"You have so many clothes, like way more than me. We're only here for like a week, does the Capitol think that you're gonna change every five minutes?" Glimmer shrugged and looked away from him, out of the window. Even though they were only on the first floor, they were still high above many of the buildings in the city. Marvel's face fell for a second; he sunk into the red chair opposite her and leant forward with his forearms on his knees. He let silence hang around for a minute.

"Why are you being weird? I don't understand." Glimmer shrugged and continued looking out of the window. "Is it because of the guy from Two?"

"Cato?" Her head snapped up to see Marvel's raised eyebrow. "No."

"It seems to me, young Glimmer, you are developing feelings for this boy."

"Feelings aren't a great thing to have in the Hunger Games." Glimmer looked down for a minute before looking back at her best friend. She remembered what her brother had said to her before she left, and then what Sparks had said.

_If you don't win, I'll break into the afterlife and freaking cut you._

"Only one comes out Marvel. And it needs to be one of us."

_**AN: Are you enjoying this? I need to know haha. Next chapter will be training pt one (so basically the time before the individual assessment) and then Chapter 6 will be individual assessments and training scores. Review please? Maybe 30 reviews before the next chapter?**_


	6. Did you just call him a nimrod?

**Prepared to Die.**

**_Aloha my readers! Welcome to Chapter 6! Hope you're enjoying, it'll be the arena before you know it! Review if you're a dove and fave/follow if you're a mockingjay (see what I did there? Get it? Haha...no? Fine then, suit yourself, I thought it was a Marvelous joke.)_**

**_Update with the reviews: I have fixed the review problem, I need to moderate them for some reason, so if your review doesn't come up straight away, it's because I'm either asleep of offline, but the first thing I'll do is approve them when I get online! Thank you to all you who reviewed, especially those who were having trouble with it! I appreciate and love you all!_**

**Disclaimer: I do not own The Hunger Games or any of the characters, settings or other objects mentioned, apart from those that were born from my own imagination.**

* * *

After an early breakfast, and a lecture from both mentors and Septima about the days events, Marvel and Glimmer were on their way down to the training rooms. The rooms were obviously deep underground, as the ride took about a minute. Glimmer noticed that Marvel seemed nervous for the first time, he hid it well, but she could always tell with him. Surprisingly, she wasn't that nervous. If anything, she was excited to finally see her competition close up, to see who exactly she would have to destroy to get home to her family. Thinking about destroying people? She could practically hear Gloss' voice in her head.

_See Glitter, now you're thinking like a victor._

For some reason, Gloss couldn't call either of his tributes by their actual names, she was always Glitter, and Marvel was always Marple. How strange -and quite annoying- that he couldn't even be bothered to learn the names of his tributes. Probably because only one of them was coming back, that's _if_ one of them came back. If she was honest, Glimmer wasn't completely sure either of them would. She knew she could possibly win this, or she would give it a hell of a good shot, and Marvel probably could if he tried to. But as they entered the vast room that was filled with weapons and survival tools alike, she couldn't help but feel that neither of them would go back to District One.

The tributes from Two, Three, Four, Six, Ten and Eleven were already there. The first thing she noticed was size. All the tributes currently assembled were either under 5ft or over 6ft. Glimmer was only 5'7", so Marvel was already towering over her at 6'3". But the male from Eleven, Thresh?, was around 6'5". However, there were many 12-14 year olds this year. The girl from Eleven and the boy from Four couldn't have been more than twelve. Neither of them hit the 5ft mark, and Glimmer was pretty sure that she was heavier than the two of them combined, and she was only 130lbs. There was Clove from Two who was 15, but despite her tiny size and younger age, she was pretty sure Clove would be a main competitor. And maybe not just in the Games, Glimmer thought to herself, narrowing her eyes at the fact that Cato's arm was around her shoulders. She brushed past Cato's shoulder as she went to stand on the other side of Marvel, causing him to look down at her as she walked past him. She smirked and turned to talk to Marvel before the other tributes arrived.

* * *

"In two weeks, 23 of you will be dead. One of you will be alive. Who that is depends on how well you pay attention over the next four days, particularly to what I'm about to say." Atala, the head trainer, was giving a speech about how important these training sessions were, but no-one was particularly listening. All the tributes were taking this opportunity to size up the competition. Glimmer looked around at the assembled tributes, mentally noting which ones would be threats. Thresh, Katniss, Peeta, she ticked off in her head right away. The girl from Seven who was taller and more built than her and came from the lumber district, meaning she would be pretty handy with an axe. Both tributes from Ten looked strong, probably because of their experience with livestock, but it was well known that the tributes from Ten were not very educated in the ways of survival. And then Cato and Clove. Because at some point allies turn on each other. Clove could be easily taken down if there were no knives handy, both Glimmer and Marvel were taller and stronger than her, but Cato was a real problem. Marvel was taller than him, but he was skinny and Cato was built like Thresh, stocky and powerful. If they were to attack Cato, they would have to do it from a distance. So her main threats so far were both tributes from Two, the girl from Seven, both from Ten, the boy from Eleven and both from Twelve? Oh and Marvel-if it came down to it, which she really hoped it wouldn't. Fantastic.

The 24 tributes were released to go to different stations, and instinctively, Glimmer headed for the archery. As she passed the different tasks, she picked up on how certain tributes were planning to survive. Three and Eight were at the fire making station, whereas Cato and Clove had opted for the weaponry, just like Glimmer and Marvel, who was following her to participate in spear throwing. She could see now why it was the Careers that won most often, it wasn't just because of the Academy, it was because the other districts were focussing on survival skills. Well yeah, you need to survive, but you also need to know your way around a weapon. Lighting fires? Sure, keeps you warm, but if you're alone and defenceless, the smoke just attracts unwanted visitors. Most likely the Careers.

Glimmer was struck with a thought as she and Marvel approached their chosen station.

"Marvel, why didn't anyone volunteer for you?" It was customary that someone would volunteer for the reaped, regardless of age. Yet no-one came lunging out of the crowd to claim their place in the Games. No-one volunteering was unheard of in One.

"Because...well...remember before the Reaping? My dad won the money draw?" Glimmer nodded, although she didn't see what this had to do with anything.

"Add that amount of money to the amount we make at the shop and we're pretty loaded. So we found out who wanted to volunteer that year and paid them off. Simple as." Marvel left Glimmer at the archery station, walking across to seize a spear. She stood still for a minute, absent-mindedly watching as he hurled the spear into the dummies heart. It would be killed if it was a human. She shook her head and picked up a bow, loading it with an arrow and aiming it at the target across the room. Just before she pulled the string, she noticed Cato out of the corner of her eye slicing up countless practice dummies with a sword, making her aim slightly off and hit the target's arm. Groaning, she reloaded and tried again, this time hitting it square in the head.

* * *

3 days later, it was the last day of training, and the Careers decided to train together for the whole day. While Clove and Marvel were throwing knives (it turned out Marvel was better with spears than knives), Cato approached Glimmer, who was leant against a metal pole watching them.

"Alright Bunny?" He whispered dramatically, making her jump slightly.

"I've been better thanks Cato, you?"

"I'm good. Casually training for the time when I'll be thrown into the arena to fight to my death with 20 people I don't know, a person I know by sight and 2 people I do know. The usual." There was a trace of a smirk on her lips as she turned to look at him.

"You don't know me that well, so it'll be okay."

"I'd like to know you."

"Smooth."

"Hey give me a break, I've been spending time with Brutus." Glimmer really did smile this time, shrugging casually and turning back just in time to see Clove send a knife through the heart of a moving target.

"I've been spending time with Marvel." She gestured to the fact that Marvel was now bored of knives and was wandering over to them, unbeknownst to Clove, who was still completely focused on the task at hand. Marvel slid quickly behind them At that moment, Mellark from Twelve fell from the rigging that was obviously meant to be jungle vines. Cato folded his arms and smirked, his blue eyes staring hard as Peeta cradled his leg. Glimmer hated it that she found people falling over so funny, but she couldn't help turning to face Marvel and laughing silently. They then watched as Katniss came up and gave him what seemed to be a pep talk, before he got up and limped towards the weights. He picked up one of the heaviest ones and tossed it towards the rack of spearsm which clattered when the heavy ball hit it. Instinctively, Glimmer and Marvel stepped back, but Cato's smirk remained and he nodded, turning round to face the tributes from One. Marvel looked disgusted.

"The nimrod. You don't just throw a massive 500 ton piece of metal at spears, does the idiot know how much they cost?" Glimmer put a hand on his shoulder, looking across at Cato amusedly and mouthing the words _'Drama Queen'_ at him, before comforting the horrified Marvel.

"I'm sure they didn't feel a thing."

"Wait, wait, wait hold up." Cato held up a hand then folded his arms again, looking at Marvel; dead serious. "Did you just call him a nimrod?"

"Yes Sykes, yes I did." Marvel replied, just as seriously. Glimmer wasn't exactly sure what to do, she just stood awkwardly next to the two men who seemed to be having a stare down. Slowly, Cato nodded, as though in approval, and then thankfully, Clove came over to break the tension.

_**AN: Hope you enjoyed! Bit of a filler chapter, sorry if it's a bit crap! If you want to review, please do because I will smile, if you don't you can put your coffee down and leave. Nah I'm kidding, but if you do have coffee, please put it down. I don't want you to spill it on your laptop/computer/tablet/mobile device etc. Loves you!**_


	7. I have feelings for some people

**Prepared to Die.**

**_Aloha my readers! Welcome to Chapter 7! Chapter 7 already, how exciting! I'm positively gleaming with happiness (Too soon? Too soon.) Review and stuff if you enjoyed the chapter! _**

**_AND ALSO. If something in here differs from the book, for example, in the book the males are assessed first, but in the film the females are, and in the film Marvel and Glimmer wear pink and in the book they were silver, it's simply because it flows better for my story. So there'll be a mixture of book and film in this fanfic. Thanking you!:)_**

**Disclaimer:****I do not own the Hunger Games or any of the characters, settings or other objects mentioned, apart from those born from my own imagination.**

* * *

On the last day of training, all the tributes were gathered for lunch before their individual assessments. Being the female from District One, Glimmer would be expected to go first, and needless to say she was terrified. She was a Career; anything below an 8 would be unacceptable and she would be targeted as a weakling and an easy target. So she was physically unable to eat much at lunchtime, despite the amount of food that was available to her. As usual, she sat with Cato, Marvel and Clove, and Clove was currently talking about what would be available to them in their private sessions.

"They'll probably put all the weapons that they've seen the tributes are good at. Knives for me, swords for Cato, spears for Marvel and bows and arrows for Glimmer. They want a show, so they need us to fight well, or everyone will just die of starvation or whatever." Clove grinned and took a bite of her food. Even though she knew that was meant to make her feel better, Glimmer couldn't help but feel more nervous. When Marvel and Clove got up to go get seconds, Cato looked across at her and frowned.

"You okay bunny?"

"Yeah, i'm just-"

"Nervous?" Glimmer nodded and looked up at him. "Yeah me too."

"Really?" She said disbelievingly; like Cato had anything to be nervous about.

"Yeah. It's like everyone expects me to be this killing machine with no feelings, because that's how you're raised in District Two. And that's what the tributes from home are like every year, so that's what Clove and I will have to be like." The two tributes turned to look at Clove, who was stood talking to Marvel and the girl from Four. Glimmer turned round to face Cato first.

"And you don't want to be like that?"

"Well no of course I don't. Contrary to everyone else's belief, I actually have feelings regarding and maybe even for some of the people here." Cato glanced at her fleetingly then turned back to his food before him. Glimmer looked down awkwardly. Before she could reply, there was a voice from somewhere above them.

"Glimmer Costello, District One. Please report for individual assessment." She stood up, not allowing any emotion to pass over her face aside from a cocky smirk, as Cato slapped her lightly on the back. She passed Marvel and Clove, both of whom nodded imperceptibly at her, and exited the room.

* * *

Glimmer entered the room where her private session was due to take place. The first thing she noticed was the array of weapons that were spread out across one side of the room. Clove was right, there were spears, knives, swords and most importantly a bow and arrows. She then looked up at the twelve or so Gamemakers that were sitting on a balcony above her. Twelve, one specifically for each district maybe? They were all looking down at her, which unnerved her slightly. She shot worse when she was under pressure, which was mainly why she was dreading the Games, because she would always be under pressure.

"You have 10 minutes to present your chosen skill." Glimmer nodded curtly and walked stiffly over to the bow and picking it up along with a quiver of arrows. They felt unfamiliar in her hands, even though she'd used them countless times back in One and especially during the last three days. She loaded an arrow nervously and held it up to aim at the heart of a dummy in front of her. For a second, she held in in place then shot, and surprisingly, it landed right on target. In a flash, she drew another arrow and spun round to the right to shoot another.

After 10 minutes of speed shooting, pretend dodging and flourishing her looks as much as possible, just as Cashmere had told her to, Glimmer was allowed out of the room and back to floor One. Cashmere and Gloss were obviously waiting for her, but surprisingly, so was Brutus and Enobaria from District Two, which meant Cato and Clove would be joining them later.

"How'd it go Glitter?" Gloss asked, noticing her enter and joining her at the door.

"Good. It went good." Enobaria and Brutus intimidated her slightly, she thought they would be cold and hard-faced, like many other tributes she'd seen from Two, but Brutus seemed to be a lot like Gloss as he walked up to her.

"I'm sure she did brilliantly." He put his arm around her shoulder and guided her over to Enobaria, who smiled, revealing her fangs, as she shook her hand. Glimmer's eyes flickered over to Cashmere nervously, who shook her head and mouthed 'Just go with it'.

* * *

The fact that Marvel came back grinning, Clove arrived looking extremely pleased with herself and that Cato's usual cocky smile was wider, meant that they probably much happier with their performance than she was. By the time they'd eaten dinner and were all crushed together in the living room, Glimmer was almost certain she was going to get a 5 or lower; what she'd done sounded rubbish compared to everyone else. So she was feeling pretty down due to this fact, the fact that Marvel seemed to be ignoring her and the fact that Cato was being awkward around her after his outburst about feelings. And down to her luck, she was sitting in-between them as Caesar Flickerman's face appeared on the screen.

"Now as you know, the tributes are rated on a scale of one to twelve." There was silence for a minute before he began with the scores.

"From District One, Marvel." A tense pause. "Scores a nine." Cashmere and Gloss relaxed, grinning at Marvel as Brutus slapped him on the back.

"Glimmer, District One. Scores a nine." Glimmer relaxed too, it didn't go as bad as she'd thought it did.

"District Two, Cato, scores a ten." Well that was expected, Cato was stronger and all around more skilled than Marvel and Glimmer, coming from District One.

"Clove, with a score of ten." So she and Marvel were the weakest careers, along with from the girl from Four who also scored a nine. That meant that the other tributes would try to eliminate the stronger tributes, such as Cato and Clove, first, but if they failed, it put them in a worse position. Either way, the Careers were always the ones to destroy.

* * *

_**AN: Sorry its short, sorry I took so long, this chapter was really hard to write for some reason. Review etc etc if you liked it :)**_


	8. Just a target

**Prepared to Die.**

**_Aloha my readers! Welcome to Chapter 8! Okay, so I know a lot of you wanted the interview scenes, but I am finding it literally impossible to write it, so I'll upload the bloodbath chapter first, and maybe later I'll add an interview scene, maybe in a flashback or something, I'll figure it out. PLEASE DON'T THROW THINGS AT ME *hides behind Jack Quaid* I still love you!  
_**

**Disclaimer:****I do not own the Hunger Games or any of the characters, settings or other objects mentioned, apart from those born from my own imagination.**

* * *

There was darkness for about ten seconds, and then the light of day hit Glimmer in the face.

_Let the 74__th__ Hunger Games begin. 50, 49, 48, 47_

She blinked hard and squinted, attempting to make out her surroundings. She seemed to be in a forest, with 3 ¼ of the arena covered in woodland. There was also a field of tall wheat in another corner.

_36, 35, 34, 33_

The next thing she did was glance to her sides to see who the nearest tributes were. She was placed in-between Rue, the girl from Eleven, and the guy from Three, whose name she didn't know. Marvel was a few people to her left, Katniss on his right and Clove on his other side. That meant she knew where two of her allies were, but where was Cato? She then noticed him about 10 people away. The male from Six was on his left, which made Glimmer smile slightly; remembering how Cato had promised he would target him first.

_30, 29, 28, 27_

She looked towards the Cornucopia, searching for a weapon she could use. Bow and arrows? Check. Daggers? Check. Knives? Check. There were also backpacks, sleeping bags and other survival equipment strewn around in a helpful pattern, meaning that Glimmer could sweep things up as she went for the Cornucopia.

_15, 14, 13, 12_

Glimmer glanced to her right, catching Cato's eye. He nodded towards the Cornucopia pointedly and made a slashing motion with his hand, to which she nodded in response to his unasked question. She gestured towards the District 6 male; he smirked and nodded.

_11, 10, 9, 8_

As the ten second countdown began, she poised herself in a stance for running and looked across at Marvel quickly. Marvel grinned at her, stood in the exact same stance as she was, and winked, almost comfortingly, before looking back at the Cornucopia.

_4, 3, 2, 1._

The gong sounded and it began. Glimmer leapt from her pedestal and, ignoring the tributes at her sides, sprinted straight towards the weapons as soon as her feet hit the ground. A knife was laying a few feet in front of her; she took a swipe at it and picked it up as a brunette girl, the girl from Six?, appeared in front of her with her back to Glimmer. It looked like she was attempting to run towards her district partner, who Cato was currently punching in the stomach as he flew towards the Cornucopia, but Glimmer had other ideas. She sidestepped so she was in front of her and dived on top of her, knocking them both to the ground. Her opponent attempted to kick her away, but it was almost too easy for Glimmer to overpower her. The girl from Six was unarmed, what did she think was going to happen? Before she could make another escape attempt, Glimmer's knife was in her abdomen, then her heart. As Glimmer got up from the girl's body, grabbing a yellow sleeping bag from next to her, and began running, there was no remorse. It was one less target for her to deal with.

Suddenly, Glimmer was nearly knocked down again as the male from Ten collided with her. He wasted no time in ripping the sleeping bag from her and sprinting off. This didn't deter her; there would be more sleeping bags. As she entered the Cornucopia, she saw Thresh dash past her, noticed Marvel spearing a girl after taking a backpack from her and saw Clove throw a knife at a target that she couldn't see. The male from Five caught her attention, and she ran towards him, intending to kill him off next when the male from Ten came speeding back into her line of vision. She changed course, seizing his arm and attempting to drive her knife into it, but he avoided it and grabbed her arm. In response, she punched him hard in the face with her left hand and kicked him backwards onto a crate before pinning him down and attempting to stab him once more. He seemed to have very quick reflexes as he dodged most of them, apart from one as she managed to cut his shoulder.

Before she had a chance to try again though, Glimmer was pulled from her target and shoved over. She looked up to see her attacker, which turned out to be the District Six male. Apparently his name was Jason, but she didn't care as her knife had been somehow knocked out of her hand. So as she was defenceless, she involuntarily screamed and tried to push him away as he raised a dagger that was almost certainly going to be the cause of her death.

* * *

Cato knocked the sword from the hands of the District Four girl, kicking her aside. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed a short guy running towards him. He turned and tossed the sword directly at his chest, smirking as it hit its mark and ended the tributes' life. The smirk was temporary though, as there was a scream from within the Cornucopia behind him. He wouldn't care normally, but he had a disturbing hunch that it was Glimmer. The fact that Marvel had also heard the scream and was sprinting full pelt towards where it had come from, ignoring all those around him, confirmed his suspicions. But Marvel was further away than he was, so he turned round and targeted the source of the scream. The male from Six was obviously pinning her down, as Cato could see the back of his jacket and blonde hair on the floor beneath him. The closest weapon to his right hand was a knife, so, without thinking, he picked it up. Kicking the boy aside, away from Glimmer, he dug it in his chest once before getting up and removing the knife from his body. He could see curly hair peeking out from behind one of the crates as the boy from Four got up and attempted to escape. Cato carelessly slashed his throat open and, as he fell to the floor, put the knife in his belt. He turned and smirked at Glimmer as he removed the swords from their place in the Cornucopia.

Marvel skidded to a halt next to the body of the District Six boy with his spear in one hand, a machete in the other and a backpack slung over his shoulder.

"You okay?" He asked them both, glancing at the bodies that were strewn around at his feet. Glimmer nodded and kicked the arm of the boy from Six as she retrieved the bow and arrows from the stand a few feet away. Most people who survived the bloodbath had cleared out of the Cornucopia now; Clove appeared from behind it and the girl from Four got up from behind a crate. She approached the Career pack tentatively. Glimmer glanced up at Cato, who made a movement as though to draw the sword from his belt but then decided against it. He thought for a minute and looked at his other allies. Marvel shrugged, Glimmer nodded and Clove made a non-committal movement with her head, so he agreed to let her join the Careers. She was from District Four after all.

* * *

After the five allies had loaded up with weapons and supplies of their choice, they ventured out of the Cornucopia. Cato had taken on the role of leader in the Careers, so he was in front, followed by Glimmer and Marvel, then the girl from Four, whose name was apparently Marina, and lastly Clove. Suddenly, cannons boomed from somewhere above them. The pack kept moving in silence until the shots had finished.

"I counted 11." Clove said.

"Me too." agreed Marvel, looking up at the dusky sky. It would be dark soon, but none of the Careers had any desire to set up camp just yet. Night time was when people were at their most vulnerable; they'd light fires or sleep and leave themselves undefended. Keep hunting through the first night was what they'd all agreed on before the Games, and was something the girl from Four would have to deal with if she was part of the pack.

"I killed 3 of them." Marvel said casually.

"Yeah me too." Clove said, glancing around as she heard something in the trees behind her.

"I got 4." Cato replied, not noticing Clove's halt.

"And I got 1. So that's all 11? No-one else killed anyone?" Glimmer asked, surely someone else would have taken the initiative to off some tributes right at the start.

"Apparently n-"

"Shhh." Clove's voice came from behind them, interrupting Cato, as the pack turned to look around expectantly. She was stood facing the trees to her left, knife drawn and eyes searching. Someone, or something, was obviously in there. Marvel crept back to stand behind her, raising his spear so he was poised for attack. The girl from Four had a dagger clutched firmly in her hand as someone yelled-

"If you don't attack I'll help you find her." It sounded like Mellark from Twelve. Glimmer looked up at Cato, who seemed to be thinking the exact same thing that she was. Marvel frowned and lowered his weapon, but Clove persisted in moving forward. She took a step towards the brush, ready to attack at a moment's notice.

"Why should we trust you?"

"Do you want to find Katniss or not?" He seemed to be remaining calm as the leaves rustled again, suggesting he was moving closer to them. Clove opened her mouth to speak again but Cato interrupted her.

"Come out and see us then Loverboy." There was a pause, and then Peeta emerged from in-between the trees. He seemed quite intimidated as to the fact that he was faced with 5 Careers, all of whom had loaded weapons and had malicious smiles on their faces, although he stood his ground. Cato pointed his sword at him.

"I'm warning you now kid. Any funny business and you try to kill one of us, or you purposefully lead us into danger, you're dead. You betray us and save your girlfriend? You're both dead. And you can watch her die before we kill you. Got it?" Peeta nodded calmly. "Good. Come on, we'd better keep moving." Marvel laughed slightly and pointed over Cato and Glimmer's heads.

"And someone's just dying to see us." The now group of 6 turned to look. There was smoke rising from somewhere over there. Cato smirked and nodded. He then slapped Marvel on the shoulder and put his hand on Glimmer's back, pulling her to him so he could whisper in her ear.

"I'll let you have this kill if you promise me you'll do it with the sword. I seem to remember you were pretty bad with it so this should be good." Glimmer looked up at him and pulled an unimpressed face, but then nodded. Cato smiled, almost mischievously, and let go of her, taking the lead once more. Marvel caught up to Glimmer and looked down at her, shocked.

"Did he just kiss you?" He whispered disbelievingly. Glimmer slapped his chest carelessly with the back of her hand.

"No you halfwit. He promised me the next kill, seeing as I only had one in the bloodbath. You guys had all the fun." She had a strong suspicion the cameras were on them right now because of all the 'drama' with Mellark, meaning she had to keep up the charade of being a vicious killer from District One. Even though she didn't care for the girl she murdered, there would be people back in her district who loved her. She might have had brothers and sisters, maybe even a boyfriend. And now they'd lost her. All because of her. Great.

After a few hours of walking, the sky was almost pitch black. Due to this, the smoke rising from some fool's camp was no longer visible, but the Careers didn't need it because they could hear the fire now. They were getting close when Marina held up a hand and whispered loudly.

"Hey. A snare." She pointed down to her feet, where some sort of wooden trap had been constructed. Peeta crouched down to look at it.

"Katniss." He said simply, taking a stick and deactivating the trap.

"You think it's her who started the fire?" Clove asked, barely containing her joy, but Peeta shook his head.

"No. It was made specifically clear to us that fires were enemy magnets." Clove nodded in reply, obviously disappointed that it wasn't Katniss. Suddenly, the anthem swelled from above them, and all the heads instinctively turned to the sky to study the faces of the fallen. The girl from Three flashed up first, meaning the boy escaped. The boys from Four and Five came next. _So the boy from Five died anyway,_ Glimmer thought to herself, remembering how she was on target to kill him. Both from Six and Seven. Well that was understandable and probably anticipated, Transport and Lumber didn't normally make it that far, and the tributes from Six had crossed paths with Careers. Although Seven usually made the first few days. The boy from Eight, then both from Nine and finally the girl from Ten. There was a pause in the pack; they were all thinking the same thing. There were six of them there, six strong tributes that could probably take on any competition. But that meant there were five tributes elsewhere, and they could be anywhere. Marvel broke the silence with a whisper.

"Well, we know where someone is, maybe more than one person if we're lucky." He gestured to the source of the fire. "And if they've started a fire, they're obviously stupid; they should know that we'll come for them." Cato nodded in agreement and set off again.

* * *

Half an hour later, and they could see the fire, crackling loudly in the otherwise eerily quiet arena and illuminating a mane of red hair. Cato glanced behind him at his allies. _Which district?_ he mouthed silently. Peeta held up five fingers, but Clove shook her head, holding up 8. Peeta looked confused for a minute but then nodded, agreeing with Clove. The girl from Five had sleek red buns that reminded Glimmer and Marvel strongly of Sparks' hair, whereas this girl, the girl from Eight apparently, had bushy light red hair that was pulled back from her face with clips. Cato gave them the thumbs up sign before walking casually up behind her, waiting for her to notice. The rest of the Careers joined him, and because the girl didn't turn around for a while, Marvel got bored. He rolled his eyes and purposefully stepped on a twig, causing a snapping noise that was like a gunshot in the arena. The girl from Eight jumped, and gasped as she turned round to look at them. Cato smirked and handed Glimmer his sword. In response, she smiled cruelly for the camera's and slashed open the girls' chest. The resounding boom of the cannon ended her short life as Glimmer slid the sword back into its sheath on Cato's belt, laughing along with her allies as Cato put his arm around her shoulders and made her walk away. _Just a target Glimmer, she was just a target._

**_AN: Hope you enjoyed and that you're not to disappointed that the interview scene wasn't here. Please review if you enjoyed, even if you didn't, please review and yell at me haha. Joking, please don't yell at me I will cry. Loves you!:)_**


	9. Another Chapter That Isn't A Chapter

Hi! Me again (Molly, YouWishYouHadMyHungerGames' friend) Sadly, her internet has failed (Again ):) And i am soooo sorry, but again, there wont be any chapters for a while. But please don't leave hate, it really isn't her fault, i mean, if she could, she'd mooch off of my internet to upload, and we live in completely separate parts of the town from each other. So, she isn't being lazy. Plus, i see lots of you guys are asking for longer chapters, but what you have to understand is that she has had exams to prepare for this week. She also has one more to go, as well as her having to teach herself a quarter of the course from textbooks because there wasn't enough time for the teachers to do it. So if you could send her lots of loving reviews, i may be willing (Because i'm so nice yo;)) to help ya'll out (Why have i suddenly gone all western?)If she has no internet for more than a month, i will let her come round to my house, and she can literally mooch off of me. Because i know how much she appreciates you guys' support and loving. Chow for now! ~Molly xox


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